For most B2B companies, Lead nurturing is an integral part of their overall marketing program. The time spent nurturing a Lead may vary from company to company and basis the way they score their leads on their response and activities.
While as a marketer, it is great to have a detailed and impressive Lead nurturing plan, if not executed with care, it might turn out to be a harrowing experience for a Lead.
The case in point is more a B2C context, but the logic applies to B2B too and to every marketer driving a Lead nurturing program.
The Case….
I am a subscriber of Reader’s Digest, while I like the magazine and have been a religious reader of the same for years, I am really annoyed with their lead nurturing/marketing program, especially their Sweepstakes offers.
I have been continuously bombarded with offers and forms both on email and my mailbox. The mailers are impressive and colorful, and use my name all over, implying, it has been customized for me, but despite that they fail to impress me, because..
The undesired outcome..
a. They have been sending me these mailers for years now and even though I have never responded to them, I still continue to be part of their ‘Lead list’ – It seems they just add to their list, the concept of deleting names is probably alien to Reader’s Digest’s marketing team.
b. This makes me feel they are not bothered about what I really want. They are just interested in pushing across what they have to offer – irrespective of whether they derive anything out of this pointless exercise or not.
c. I don’t know, how to stop this invasion on my privacy – Unlike my emails, where I have marked these mails as spam, I am unable to stop the offline mailers, they do not give me that option, even silence and non-responsivness is not an accepted sign for ‘Leave me Alone’.
d. They want me to sign up for a subscription (when I am already a subscriber of their magazine) – I wonder what they are trying to sell here? Their sweepstake program is to attract subscribers and not alienate those who are already subscribing to their magazine.
So while Reader’s Digest may think that they are doing me a great favor, by just promoting me up their winner’s ladder and by promising me a handsome sum of money, they hardly realize that they are shooing away an existing customer, for at this point I really don’t think I feel like subscribing to their magazine ever again, only because of the way they have been pushing themselves into my personal space.
Does it sound familiar?
Well, if not planned and managed properly, most lead nurturing campaigns can become the reason for potential customers to develop an aversion towards your brand.
So how can you make your Lead nurturing program more Lead friendly?
The Solution..
– Always remember, your Lead is not just an email id or name. They are real people who have their own whims and fancies. Just this small reminder will ensure, you are more careful, the next time you decide to shoot a mailer to ‘all’ in the list.
– Measure the response of the Leads on your list and score them, every few months remove those who have been non-responsive.
– If you have been making cold calls or pursuing a lead for long, ensure your CRM system reflects these updates and comments so that others in your team are aware of this change.
– Make your content easy to read and motive of a mail simple to comprehend. You lose the trust of your Lead the moment you send a mail with a hidden agenda. Spell out in clear terms, why you have written to them and what you expect them to do.
– Spell out clearly, how they can unsubscribe to your mails
– Think ‘Drip Marketing’ – plan how you will slowly nurture your leads and let every communication to them be a value add on the last one. Receiving the same piece of information again and again can be quite irritating.
– If you really want your Lead to participate in your contests, offers etc. make it easy for him – expecting people to take too many actions only results in ‘no response’. When planning a promotion, always think your Lead as a very busy person, rest of the things will automatically fall in place. You have to grab his attention and get him to act in the minimum time possible.
B2B Lead nurturing is ideally a marketing process which helps a prospect to take an informed decision. It is a process of educating and preparing a prospect to consider your offerings when he is finally ready for sale.
Clients and customers should be dealt differently from a Lead or a prospect. Marketers who understand this difference and plan the marketing accordingly ensure that their prospects turn to clients and clients continue as clients (provided the product/services offered meet the desired expectations).
I invite the readers of this post to share their two cents on, what marketers should take care of, when nurturing their Leads..
